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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sermon 11272011 Advent 1

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our
hearts be pleasing in Your sight O Lord, our rock and our redeemer!!AMEN!!

Let us pray!As we embark
upon our series of Prophets, their prophecies and their fulfillment during this
Advent season, may our hearts be stirred up to understand the true role of the
Prophet, Priest and King we call Jesus Christ.For though these prophecies are from the Old Testament and find
fulfillment in the New Testament, may we begin to see and understand them as
applicable for us today here in Goodland, KS for all of us saints gathered here
at Emmanuel.AMEN.

This morning we embark upon a journey.Unlike any other journey, our destination is
not a place, but an opportunity of preparation of our hearts for the coming
Messiah.This is the season of Advent, a
time at the beginning of the church year where for four weeks we prepare for
the coming Messiah.Unlike at Wal-Mart
where the Christmas decorations already have dust gathered around them from
before Halloween, our four week preparation here in church will include both
Sundays and Wednesdays.On Sunday we
will hear of the four different biblical prophets that will be main characters
in this years Children’s Christmas Program.Then on Wednesday night we will hear and learn how the prophecy
introduced on Sunday is fulfilled in the New Testament. Thus, just as an artist
paints with one color with each brush stroke, the sermons we hear will help
paint clearly the picture on the canvas of the many prophecies the Old
Testament prophets foretold.And the
complete picture will only be revealed with the coming of the Christ Child in
the manger to His parents, Mary and Joseph as the beginning of the ultimate
fulfillment found on the Cross of Gologotha.So let us begin, with the Prophet Daniel.

Hear the prophetic words of Daniel 7:13-14:

13“I
kept looking in the night visions,And
behold, with the clouds of heavenOne
like a(A)Son of Man was coming,And He
came up to the Ancient of DaysAnd
was presented before Him.14“And to Him was given(B)dominion,Glory
and(C)a kingdom,(D)That all the peoples, nations andmen of everylanguageMight
serve Him.(E)His dominion is an everlasting dominionWhich
will not pass away;(F)And His kingdom is oneWhich
will not be destroyed.

Daniel the prophet is undeniably one of the most famous Old
Testament characters who is known for his faith in God, even in the face of his
persecutors who threw him in a den to face the hungry lions.And the prophecy we have just heard is clear,
“One like a Son of Man was coming, And
He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.”The prophecy is of the coming Messiah, the
one who would set the people of Israel free.Unlike what we call an inauguration of the President of the United
States, the coronation of the King of England or any monarch, the prophecy that
Daniel speaks of is of the “formal inauguration
of the Messiah as King of His eternal kingdom”.The King comes to take charge of His eternal Kingdom.Not just a small piece of land or property,
but the entirety of the Kingdom.But what
is the entirety of His Kingdom?Simply
it is the entire World which Father, Son and Holy Spirit created at the dawn of
creation from nothing.

The Son of Man comes and Daniel is clear, “to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom”.The Son of Man reigns supreme in Glory and
majesty, dominion and power over His Kingdom.And Daniel tells us that “all
peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him.His dominion is an everlasting dominion which
will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed”.

Clearly, there is a choice that is to be made, hence our free will.And this prophecy of Daniel is a warning for
the people of the Old Testament time that the Son of Man was coming. Hence it
is man’s free will to avoid believing the prophecy of Daniel and do so
willfully.Are we any different than the
people of Daniel’s time?Do we avoid the
truth that Daniel tells in our own way?Do we only look to God when someone we know and love is sick or on their
death bed?Do we only pray to God when
we believe He is our last option?Do we
come to worship in God’s house only when it is convenient or at the major
events like Christmas and Easter, funerals and weddings?If we answered yes to any of these questions,
we are no different than the people Daniel speaks to in his prophecy of the
coming Son of Man.

For it is the coming Son of
Man we know as Jesus Christ.It was His
life, death and resurrection that fulfills the law perfectly for each and every
one of us.For it was on the Cross at
Golgotha, that Jesus died in order that we might live with Him in His
Kingdom.It is this Kingdom that Jesus
is King of that will not pass away and which we as believers in Jesus Christ
sacrificial death on the cross partake of and are ushered into when we enter
eternal glory.But the choice is ours,
to ignore Daniel’s prophetic call or to listen and head Jesus Christ call which
is for all mankind and especially for all of us Saints here at Emmanuel.AMEN.